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Event strategy
Clarify considerations like goals, audience, and format. That helps you decide on content, speakers, and venue/ platform.
What's the goal of the event? Are you looking to share information? Create relationships? Explore something new together?
- Is the audience clearly defined?
- Choose an event name that is clear, compelling, and exciting.
- Create consistent naming and branding as a group over time
- Choose an event format that meets your goals and is appropriate to your audience. Formats include...
- Presentations
- Tutorials
- Show-and-tell/ case study
- Workshops
- Co-working, hackathons, or other generative formats
- Does it hang together? Have you chosen a format, name, venue, and time that will be compelling to your audience and will meet your goals?
Speakers & content
- Check out the Group Network's Speaker & Content Database to find guest speakers and presentation-ready decks to use at your next event.
- Try to get people from the group to present. Presenting can lead to more group leadership & ownership.
- Other places to source speakers
- AU speakers
- Expert Elites
- Resellers
- Post the pictures of the people who’ll be presenting at your event, link to their website or LinkedIn page. (Example: DFWIUG Past Speakers list)
- It looks good and and attracts people.
- It acknowledges presenters’ expertise and helps them get their personal brand out there.
- If you do really advanced topics, you’ll have a smaller event. But that might be what you want.
Venues
- Venues might include
- Offices
- Autodesk partner offices
- Bars/ restaurants
- Schools/ classrooms
- Conference centers
- Choose a venue or online platform to match your format & goals
- Don't be afraid to rearrange the furniture to enable people flow and conversation, based on your goals & agenda.
- Location, location, location - it’s crucial!
- Accessibility by public transport
- Parking availability
- Compelling space or neighborhood - where people want to go
- If you're in a major city, find a central location to host the event so everyone can attend and drive the same distance.
- It's a good idea to create a spreadsheet of local venues that your group might use, with contact information. This is a good shared resource for leaders.
- Make sure you know any rules that might be imposed by the venue (e.g. no outside food)
- Be careful of food and drink costs at venues like conference centers. They may be significantly marked-up.
- Do a site visit
The online meeting technology you choose essentially becomes the venue if your event is virtual.
Engage to improve
Connect with a peer mentor on hosting events - access codes listed here for Autodesk Group Network members.
Become a peer mentor
Last modified 1yr ago
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